Need Mac Laptop Advice

Hi! My mom is a retired teacher, still using her circa 1999 (I think) Powerbook G4. She loves it, but she’s finally starting to see that it might be time to send it out to pasture and get a more current model. Right now, it’s running OS X 10.4.11, which isn’t compatible with much of anything. She has an iPhone, but can’t install any version of iTunes that will let her sync it to her computer. None of the newer browsers work. She comes completely unhinged when she has to remember more than two user name/password combinations, and LastPass won’t install on her ancient OS. As a PC user, I can’t help her when her AirPort connection gets an attitude and decides it doesn’t want to play with our WiFi anymore.

Anyway, I know next to nothing about Macs and have no idea what she should be looking at for her next laptop. Again, she’s a retired teacher, so she can’t just pop into the Apple store and get something new. She needs a decent, reliable, laptop that will run a more current OS, and she can’t spend more than $500.

I’ve browsed eBay and some used Mac websites, but really have no clue what I’m looking for - will any of you kind souls point me in the right direction? Between listening to my mother yell at her computer and spending hours of my time trying to get it to do things it just.wont.do, I’m about to lose my mind. Please help.

- Check Craigslist (if you feel comfortable evaluating used equipment for her…)
- Look at a reputable pre-owned reseller such as SmallDog or PowerMax (disclaimer: I used to work for a company associated with PowerMax)
- Depending on her needs, an iPad (somewhat less capable, but simpler, has a year warranty, and can back up to iCloud)